Here we go then, the best albums of last year. Maybe a bit later than the norm but better late than never.
10. The Recovery – Eminem
After a fragile and tame return to the limelight in 2009 with the Relapse album, Eminem was back on close-to top-form in 2010. This was no surprise after a stellar year after Relapse with collaborations alongside B.o.B, Drake and Lil’ Wayne, all showcasing the best elements of Eminem’s skills. This form continued onto the album and personal demons and issues were tackled way more head on and with a lot more vigour. Laying it all on the line in songs such as Cold Wind Blows and No Love provide a great example of the renewed purpose and desire. Highlights of the album include the haunting Cold Wind Blows and Won’t Back Down which includes a good cameo from Pink. Collaborations provide arguably the strongest 2 tracks on the album; No Love with Lil’ Wayne is classic Eminem, feelings out for everyone to see, couple with a clever 90s classic sample. And the most successful song on the album, Love The Way You Lie featuring a beautifully tragic vocal from Rihanna made this a sure fire hit. That song in particular may have been more for Rihanna to get rid of some issues but the feelings are felt by both. To sum up, this album, after a few years of turmoil for Eminem alongside a tepid return in 2009, helped provide the outlet Eminem needed to get back on track and in turn back to top form.
9. The Lady Killer – Cee-Lo Green
I’ve been a fan of Cee-Lo for a while, partly through Gnarls Barkley and partly through some decent collaborations over the last few years. There’s just something about his silky smooth, unique voice that draws you in. Add in to that coming up with one of the biggest songs of the year with Fuck You/Forget You and the album was destined to succeed. I wasn’t anticipating to really love this album but it’s just one of those you can’t get enough of and really caught me. Leaving aside Fuck You, which is a genius and direct take on the post-relationship angst, there are many other highlights on this album. The powerful Band of Horses cover No One’s Gonna Love You is a beautiful and vulnerable song that still sounds so big. Bright Lights, Bigger City is a wonderful slice of 80s-inspired pop which sounds equally as massive whilst still maintaining that silky smooth edge and style. And It’s OK shows that this album is much more than just a soul record and that Cee-Lo really knows how to make a clever pop tune. Cee-Lo is a one of a kind and instantly likeable, both sentiments suggest why this album is as good as it is. One of the great voices of the time.
8. Drake – Thank Me Later
Hotly tipped for a while prior to this release, in part thanks to 2009’s Forever which featured some of rap’s elite. This guy is super talented and extremely multi-faceted. In fact, he sort of has two separate rapping styles. One of these is one of the sharpest and quickest flows in the game which is highlighted in Over and Fancy as an example. These raps are so sharp and quick that he puts plenty of Rap’s stalwarts to shame and on a debut album! His second style is much more a subdued and calm approach, letting the beat breathe, keeping the listener hooked the whole time. This is best shown on uber-collaborations Light Up and Miss Me featuring Jay-Z and Lil Wayne respectively. It’s hard to explain how such a slow beat could be so heavy but it’s these songs that really go for the knockout. It makes it look like Drake is delivering these standout knockout blows with such ease that it turns into something so stylish. Superstar appearances add to the quality of the album but don’t detract from the man’s own skills. Up All Night is another classic example of a good collaboration of the album, with both Drake and the bonkers Nicki Minaj going toe-for-toe and both coming out on top. Like Minaj with her Pink Friday, this is the young pretender really making a play for the throne.
7. Plastic Beach – Gorillaz
The first non-rap album in this hip-hop heavy list. This was highly anticipated before it came out and was duly given some high appraisal. This is Damon Albarn trying his best to reinvent pop and trying to challenge people’s ideas of what a good pop album is. The influences are massively varied but as you come to expect with Albarn, each influence is carefully preserved and somehow turned into genius songs. The presence of rap is more prevalent than previous Gorillaz albums with the likes of Snoop Dogg, the ever-present De La Soul and Mos Def alongside the strong British contingent with Kano and Bashy. Their song is a hybrid rap song fused with the Syrian National Orchestra that, like much of the album, somehow works. Old legends Lou Reed, the insane Mark E. Smith and the underrated Bobby Womack whose contributions on Stylo and Cloud of Unknowing are fantastic, also fit in just as nicely. Little Dragon is another highly-utilised performer on this album and provides two of the highlights of the album in Empire Ants and To Binge. There is some success too when Albarn tackles a song on his own but it is the wide range of influences that make this album and they are best executed by the various guests. Underrated Glastonbury set aside, 2010 was a pretty good year for Gorillaz and this is the pinnacle and the culmination of the Gorillaz journey.
6. The Adventures of Bobby Ray – B.o.B
Back to rap on this list and another album that really came out of nowhere like a bolt out of the blue. Mediocre hit single Nothin On You featuring the also mediocre man of the moment Bruno Mars suggested this album mightn’t have been anything special. How wrong I was, B.o.B is fresh and very clever song-writer. Some of the songs are here are so beautifully and carry real sentiment that this doesn’t sit just as a rap album but something altogether more enjoyable. I keep harping on about guest appearances in this list but there a couple of standout guest spots here from the likes of Hayley Williams and Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), the latter providing just a fun bit of uplifting pop. Whereas, the Hayley Williams appearance was a bit of a surprise and provided one of the more beautiful and heartfelt songs of the year. The Kids is a daunting yet hopeful standout track that makes you think, while all the time being delivered with a cool calm confidence. And could there possibly be a more romantic sentiment than Lovelier Than You, whose chorus could really be written in a valentine’s day card it is that nice but the track itself is really something special. I acquired this at the same time as a couple of other albums on the list and as such didn’t expect to listen to this one as much, but it really does bring you back in for more.
5. A Thousand Suns – Linkin Park
Linkin Park could’ve played it safe here, in fact they could play it safe for years to come and people would still buy the albums and come to the shows. But they decided it was time to experiment and major props to them because it really has worked. The guitars have been phased out here and replaced with a much more electronic sound which at times sounds just as heavy, take The Blackout and Wretches and Kings for example. But the new electronic sound also brings a few different sort of highlights. Some is stylish and funky like in When They Come For Me. Other times, the new sound manifests as a huge chorus with powerful messages like in Waiting For The End and brilliantly on the standout track Iridescent which is just a behemoth of a track in trying to find hope and love. Lead single the Catalyst is really a culmination of all the facets that make this album such a gem and highlights the progression taken. I hear some die-hard fans didn’t warm to the album much, even suggesting that they have sold out to an extent. To these people I suggest they listen to The Blackout which really is classic Linkin Park intensity but mixed with the new elements of the album. A fine example of a band mixing things up and producing some great results.
4. Won’t Go Quietly – Example
And now for something a little different. As I explained a while back when reviewing this album, I became aware of Example a couple of years ago and that was as a rapper. In his new form Example has managed to combine great pop song craft with up-tempo electro and dance elements and still managing time to shoehorn a bit of rap in there too. You can tell Example had his sights set on the mainstream with massive sounding pop singles like Two Lives, Last Ones Standing and the dreamy Watch The Sun Come Up. Bit it’s not here where his strength lies. Thanks to some help from producers such as Calvin Harris and Chase & Status it’s the dance element that really stand out and make this sound like a dirty rave. Hooligans and Dirty Face are the epitome of this and along with tracks like Won’t Go Quietly and See The Sea, this whole album is sure to get the crowd bouncing. Hell, he even successfully tries his hand at dubstep (before it really blew up this year) in gloomy album-closer Won’t Believe The Fools. But the biggest track on this album is the fantastic From Space. As statements of intents go to start an album, this is something else. Starting with a slick rap but finishing with a trance freak-out really show the different styles showcased on this album and act as a massive statement of intent for the rest of the record. ‘Where’s all the hooligans??!!’
3. One Life Stand – Hot Chip
It seems so long ago that this was out considering the amount of good music that has happened since. But this was a wondrous album and really took Hot Chip to the next level musically. They had enjoyed moderate success and a loyal fan base with their previous albums but this record sounds so much bigger, so much more complete. And with that came a massive leap in song writing ability throughout. Gone were the quirky lyrics and off the wall sounds, in came beautiful sentiments and beautiful and heartfelt lyrics. Songs about love but not in the usual predictable way. Brothers is one of the most heartfelt songs on the record but it is unlike any other romance song and is about more of Bromance. Slush and Alley Cats are examples of classic love song sentiments but delivered in a slightly different way but always beautiful. One Life Stand speaks not of short romances, broken romances or anything like, but the continued love of a long-standing relationship and isn’t that the most romantic idea of all. There are still the technical electro-pop bigger sounding songs of old Hot Chip records such as Thieves in The Night and Take It In. But its when this album is at it;s most vulnerable, poignant and lovely that it is at it’s best. Definitely one of my live highlights of the year too.
2. Body Talk – Robyn
Arguably one of the most consistent artists of the year, mainly due to the 3-part release of this album series. The final Body Talk album is almost a greatest hits of the previous 2 albums with a handful of new songs added in for good measure. From the first instalment, I knew this whole series was going to be in my records of the year. This is electro-pop at it’s finest. Robyn seems to have a warped sense of romance and lyrically some of these songs could sound obsessive or crazed but she makes them sound warm and beautiful meaning you pull for her in all of the songs. Dancing on My Own could be simply about stalking someone you will never have and Call Your Girlfriend is almost just mean in getting a potential suitor to dump a girlfriend to be with here, but both are just stunning pieces of pop music. There is real emotion here too in the vulnerable Hang With Me and Indestructible, both of which appear both as full electronic versions as well as incredible acoustic/stripped versions on the previous instalments. Robyn’s sense of humour is also plain to see here with another kick-ass sort of element with songs U Should Know Better, which plainly just suggests ‘you should know better than to fuck with’ Robyn which obviously you should on this evidence. Don’t Fuckin’ Tell Me What To Do is another example of Robyn keeping her tongue firmly in cheek and not giving a fuck about what anyone thinks. I think the biggest testament for this album I can give is the fact I was going to put this into the list on Parts 1 & 2 alone. Then I only recently required the full package the other day and the extra songs are just as good as the best ones off the other parts. Just a brilliant pop star.
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West
There was never going to be any other winner. 2010 was Kanye’s year and boy did he earn it. The Twisted Fantasy came after a string of excellent G.O.O.D Friday releases (he released a free download every Friday for about 3 months featuring some of rap’s big names as well as some new prospects off his label) which, if were released on a mixtape or some format, would be in contention for my favourite albums as well. But My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy really was the culmination of all of this as well as the need to prove himself post Taylor Swift-gate as well as an extension of his ‘Soldier of culture’ self imposed tag. And the album really is beautiful, dark and twisted. This really should go down as one of the great albums, not just of 2010. Rap songs alone stand out above most hip-hop tracks released last year. Power and the huge collaborations of So Appalled and Monster show he still has the ability to produced a monster rap hit. When the album goes dark and twisted though, is when the album starts to become an entirely different prospect. Runaway, and the accompanying film, are warped and vulnerable giving a key into West’s thoughts and insecurities. Blame Game is an interesting look into the breakdown of a relationship and all the angst and resentment that can go with that which comes to a head in a bizarre but massively intriguing overheard phone conversation between a partner and her new fling, brilliantly portrayed by Chris Rock of all people. Lost In The World and the accompanying poem Who Will Survive In America give a pretty damning and daunting view on the world coupled with interesting guest stars. The title track, Dark Fantasy probably gives the best statement of intent and first look into Yeezy’s ‘fantasy’ with a wonderfully mad introduction from Nicki Minaj in a strange English accent! At times, this album is all over the place, at times it is crazy, at times it is beautiful but it is always brilliant and never dull. There really just aren’t enough superlatives to describe this album. Rightfully best album of the year; it would be high up in any best of list for any year. Outstanding.
